God bless and long live the Royal Navy. HMS Dauntless is setting sail for the South Atlantic, sending a powerful signal to the Argentines, sabre-rattling over the Falkland Islands.

Dauntless, a Type 45 destroyer, is the most advanced anti-aircraft and anti-ballistic ship in the world, equipped with 48 Sea Viper missiles and the Sampson radar, which is more advanced than Heathrow air traffic control. She is in a league of her own in air defence, with the capacity to track dozens of multiple targets.

The deployment, expected in late March, comes as Argentina has stepped up its sabre rattling over possession of the islands with a ban on all Falkland registered ships in South American ports.

CAPTAIN WILL WARRENDER RN

Sending the £1 billion war-ship on her first mission to the area will reinforce our position, although it will cause difficulties for the Foreign Office, which is trying to downplay the rhetoric.

Admiral Lord West, the former First Sea Lord and Falklands veteran, said the Type 45 has an “amazing anti-air warfare capability.”

He also sent a warning to the Argentine government. “Should there be any foolish nonsense from Argentina, Dauntless can sit just off the airfield and take down any aircraft coming in. It’s a game-changing capability.”

Friday, 27 January 2012

Mr David Lindsay, HM Lord-Lieutenant of County Down, has been pleased to appoint

DR WILLIAM GERARD O'HARECBE, Rostrevor, County Down

To be a Deputy Lieutenant of the County, his Commission bearing date the 24th January, 2012.

BIOGRAPHY

Dr O'Hare is one of Northern Ireland's most successful property and business entrepreneurs with a portfolio of developments across the UK, Central Europe and the USA.

As founder and CEO of Parker Green, Dr O'Hare has grown an international portfolio of properties and investments fast approaching $1bn, which includes the Quays Shopping & Leisure Centre in Newry.

Dr O'Hare has been the catalyst in bringing together many major developments and attracting outside investment into Northern Ireland from the early 1990s to present day, motivating and securing some of the early PFI schemes.

He has served as Chairman of the Communities Support Group, President of the Newry Chamber of Commerce and Trade, Chairman of the University of Ulster Foundation and as a visiting professor at the University of Ulster's School of the Built Environment.

In June 2009, The Prince of Wales appointed Dr O’Hare as his Ambassador for Business and Corporate Social Responsibility in Northern Ireland.

In October 2009, Dr O’Hare along with Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama, received a joint Lambda Alpha International Award for International Urban Affairs.

Dr O’Hare has recently also been appointed as Honorary Consul for Latvia, where he will have a special role both for Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

More recently, Dr O’Hare was listed in the 2009 New Year Honours list, when he became a CBE.

Rear-Admiral David Bawtree CB DL (Rtd), the chairman of the trust, said he hoped Lord Ashcroft's move would encourage others to come forward and donate.

In a statement on his website, Lord Ashcroft said:

The murmurings this week of a privately financed replacement for Britannia are hugely heartening, even if there is a very long way to go to make this happen. But I would like to be one of the first to offer tangible support to the concept, by offering up to £5m towards the construction costs of building a new, effective and flexible royal yacht.

The proposed vessel – 650ft long and as tall as St Paul's Cathedral – would provide education and vocational training for young people, facilities for scientific research, and a venue for trade missions and commercial exhibitions as well as staterooms for the use of the Royal Family on trips around the United Kingdom and overseas.

Lord Ashcroft added that the new vessel could be used by other members of the Royal Family.

The Prime Minister has offered his support to the project, and in a letter to the Admiral Bawtree in October described it as a "splendid idea".

David Cameron's official spokesman said this week that he would "react favourably" to requests for government assistance but believed it would be "inappropriate" for taxpayers' money to be used.

Saturday, 21 January 2012

The old lungs have been invigorated by abundant fresh Ulster air this week. I spent the day at the National Trust's land beside Portavo again today. This land was bequeathed to the Trust by a gentleman in his will.

There were about two dozen of us and we managed to plant 1,500 trees, which totals 2,000 this week. There are another 5,000 to plant. The field was akin to a rugger pitch today, abounding in mud. Nevertheless, the ash trees will thrive here, complemented by oak at a lower level; interspersed with a mixture of other varieties.

Friday, 20 January 2012

I was motoring along the carriageway yesterday, towards Portavo, when a large Bentley Continental convertible wafted past. The hood was down; the chap driving it, follicly challenged. It was white and I believe the registration number was NXI 8.

That's the first Bentley convertible I've seen on Ulster's roads recently.

Monday, 16 January 2012

The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for Education, has proposed that Her Majesty The Queen should be delivered of a new royal yacht by the Nation (including Scotland).

Mr Gove said:

In spite, and perhaps because of the austere times, the celebration should go beyond those of previous jubilees and mark the greater achievement that the diamond anniversary represents. I feel strongly that the Diamond Jubilee gives us a tremendous opportunity to recognise in a very fitting way the Queen’s highly significant contribution to the life of the nation and the Commonwealth. I feel strongly more should be done to achieve a longer lasting legacy. Events such as proms and the party at the palace organised for the diamond jubilee, and street parties, although excellent, are transient. It would be appropriate to do something that will mark the significance of this occasion with fitting ceremony. My suggestion would be a gift from the nation to her majesty.

He ended his letter by suggesting that if not enough taxpayer funds were available for the project, a private donation could be sought.

Lord Belmont suggests that Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia which, I believe, is on public display in Scotland, be re-commissioned. Britannia is immeasurably more noble and dignified than any modern super-yacht.

This 1911 Rolls-Royce "Titanic Ghost" was made to order for the chairman of Harland and Wolff, and it returns to Northern Ireland for the first time in eighty-five years later this month.

The car was built for Lord Pirrie before RMS Titanic's maiden voyage in April, 1912. It will be the main attraction at a vintage car show in County Down.

"This car has a unique link to a special time and place in our history and we are thrilled to be able to bring it back to Northern Ireland in the year when so much attention is focused on the Titanic," said the organiser of the Newcastle Vintage, Classic and Sports Car Show, Martin Cromwell.

There is a cast metal plate on the scuttle under the centre of the windscreen proclaimed it to be the “Titanic Ghost”.

The chassis (each owner had the body made and fitted separately) was ordered from Rolls-Royce in November 1909 by the Rt. Hon. Lord Pirrie KP PC, of Witley Park, Godalming, Surrey.

The chassis was delivered to Morgan and Co Ltd of Long Acre, London in May 1910 to be fitted with “ceremonial double phaeton” coachwork.

On Pirrie’s death in 1924, the car was passed to his brother-in-law, the Hon Alexander Montgomery Carlisle, who was chief designer at the shipyard and who represented the company at the Board of Trade enquiry into the sinking of RMS Titanic in April 1912. Carlisle had the phaeton body removed and a cabriolet body substituted.

When the Carlisle died in 1926 the car was sold for £35 and fitted with an ambulance body.

In 1932 the body was removed and the car used as a breakdown truck and subsequently as the prime mover for a set of gang mowers on a Surrey golf club.

It was again for sale in 1950 in a breaker’s yard on the main London to Maidstone road for the derisory sum of £3 10s (£3.50).

It was then purchased to continue its life as a breakdown truck; but in 1955 when recognition had set in that these old cars might become more valuable.

The car’s fortunes changed for the better.

The, by now, very well used Rolls-Royce breakdown truck came into the hands of London Rolls-Royce agents Jack Barclay, who had a period style body built on this very early example of the marque for use as a sales promotional vehicle.

The rejuvenated old car served them well for thirty years until it was sold to an American owner in June, 1985.

As has happened with quite a lot of these cars that made their way over to the USA, the car was “repatriated” in 2000 and became the subject of a four-year restoration to return the car to as near original as possible.

The work included the construction of a replica of the double phaeton coachwork, made possible by the discovery of contemporary photographs.

The result is magnificent and one would need to be a RR expert of world class to know that it is not totally authentic; in fact it might well be better (or more polished) in some respects than when Lord Pirrie first took delivery 100 years ago.

A former Lord Mayor of Belfast, the 1st and last Viscount Pirrie was chairman of Harland and Wolff until his death in 1924 and was instrumental in ensuring Titanic and its sister ships were built in Belfast.

His bespoke car was sold shortly after he died at sea off the coast of Cuba and was converted into an ambulance. It later became a breakdown truck before being renovated in the 1950s and sold to an American owner in the 1980s.

It was brought back to the UK in 2000 and painstakingly restored over four years, and is now kept by a collector in Lincolnshire.

The car still bears its Titanic Ghost nameplate and Lord Pirrie's family crest.

William James Pirrie was born in Canada but moved to Conlig, County Down, at the age of two. He was educated at Belfast Royal Academy and joined Harland and Wolff aged 15 as a 'gentleman apprentice'.

He was appointed chairman of the shipbuilding firm in 1874; Lord Mayor of Belfast, 1896-97.

Thursday, 12 January 2012

The bookseller, Waterstone's, has ditched the apostrophe before its final letter in order to make its spelling "easier in the digital age", the company has claimed.

The chain has been known as Waterstone’s since it was founded in 1982 by the entrepreneur, Tim Waterstone.

However the retailer’s new head honcho, James Daunt, who also founded rival book chain Daunt Books, is jettisoning 30 years of book-selling history by altering the punctuation, to become Waterstones [sic].

“Waterstones without an apostrophe is, in a digital world of URLs and email addresses, a more versatile and practical spelling,” asserted Mr Daunt.

Rest assured, readers, that Timothy Belmont shall continue to maintain proper standards on this Blog, including apostrophes; whilst shunning such grammatical errors as split infinitives, which are commonplace today.

There are precedents for this slovenly grammar: Harrod's department store no longer uses an apostrophe.

Language experts are outraged. John Richards, the chairman of the Apostrophe Protection Society, described the change as "slapdash", particularly from a bookshop.

The removal of the apostrophe also has subtler connotations.

Mr Waterstone has not worked at the chain for well over a decade and the removal of the possessive punctuation makes it clear to shoppers that the bookshops no longer belong to him.

Mr Daunt said: “It reflects an altogether truer picture of our business today which, while created by one, is now built on the continued contribution of thousands of individual booksellers.”

The retailer’s logo will also revert to its old Baskerville typeface after a trendy redesign a few years ago resulted in the ‘W’ being written in the lower case.

“Waterstones is an iconic brand deserving of a capital W,” said Mr Daunt.

The new, apostrophe-free name will be gradually implemented on all of the retailer’s written communication, in stores and online.

The book chain was bought last year by the Russian businessman Alexander Mamut from HMV Group.

Did readers know that Nambarrie Tea is owned by Twinings? I was unaware of this myself.

Nambarrie is the brand name of a tea company based in Belfast, owned by Twinings.

On 10 April 2008 Nambarrie announced its plans to close its factory in Belfast. The factory is now closed and production currently takes place in England.

Founded in 1860, the company began trading in York Street, originally as 'Pratt and Montgomery'. However, during wartime bombing in 1941, the company's premises in Tomb Street were completely destroyed, reportedly leaving only a horse drawn delivery van intact.

Nambarrie Tea Co. Ltd. now operates delivery depots in Mallusk, County Antrim, and Glasgow, being the third biggest brand in Scotland.

McCaw-Allan and Company, Lurgan, County Armagh, holds a royal warrant as manufacturers of fine bed linens. Their long family tradition reaches back to 1820, when the Company was founded by Johnston McCaw. His grandson, R.J. McCaw, formed a partnership in 1904 with Harry Allan, an old Lurgan College friend.

Ulster Weavers Limited is a home textiles company based in Holywood, County Down. The company can trace its history back to the 19th century as The Ulster Weaving Company, which was originally founded in 1880.

Their factory was originally at Linfield Road, Belfast; Managing Directors, John S Larmor and John Hogg. In the 20th century, its managing director was Sir Graham Larmor.

Ulster Weavers Home Fashions has held the royal warrant as suppliers of kitchen textiles to HM The Queen since 1995.

Sunday, 8 January 2012

Regular readers will doubtless have perceived that I am in the habit of re-issuing articles written more than a year ago and, in some cases, eighteen months ago.

There are mainly two reasons for this: I am always getting new readers, who may not have seen the pieces; and I endeavour to elaborate on older articles, with fuller information regarding the lineage of the families, the most recent example being Mourne Park, ancestral seat of the Earls of Kilmorey, about whom I have provided a brief lineal narrative.

I hope all readers appreciate this and, as always, my objective is to share my passion and knowledge with others in order to gain a greater understanding of our heritage.

Friday, 6 January 2012

I have spent a most illuminating day at Mount Panther estate today. I was invited to accompany a friend on a private visit. The estate comprises 170 acres. Mount Panther House, despite having been built around 1770, remains a noble mansion, now ruinous without a roof.

I saw the very large walled garden; the extensive outbuildings, including stable block with its clock tower (alas the clock faces and bell are no longer there); the old kitchen with its Aga still in situ, in the corner, the remains of a curved wall that once encased a spiral staircase giving access to upper floors.

The library, though now in a state of disrepair, still has the original bookshelves set into the walls.

The basement is magical: A labyrinth of vaulted rooms. One can almost sense the hive of activity that this part of the house would have generated.

Le morceau du bijou was the ballroom, once used by the cream of County Down society. Sections of the 18th century stucco plasterwork with Wedgewood blue paint still remain, an extraordinary phenomenon given its age and exposure to the elements for half a century.

Wednesday, 4 January 2012

Horror of all horrors! Timothy Belmont is considering some kind of occupation. If there happen to be any billionaire readers out there prepared to sponsor me or whatever, let me know.

I am not yet of pensionable age; I believe I am physically fit and healthy. To be quite truthful, I'd like a little more money.

I think I'd be quite keen to spend more time in the capital, London. I enjoy the feeling of heritage, its life.

The Blog - my passion - makes no profit at all. Not a penny.

Having some kind of occupation could have an impact on the amount of research I can do for the Blog.

In an ideal situation, sponsorship from reputable establishments which reflect my values and do not clash with my ethos; being able to travel to properties I write about, exploring them and photographing houses, ruins and other places of interest, whilst getting an appropriate income for this, without compromising my freedom to express my own views, might be one means of achieving a satisfactory outcome.

This is all tentative. I can carry on regardless, as usual; though these are my thoughts.

Tuesday, 3 January 2012

Well, dear readers, you may be interested to know that, since the New Year, visitor numbers are up on 2011 and averaging 1,000 per day. I am receiving visits from the USA, Canada, Australia, Europe; throughout the world indeed, viz two hits from Iraq and one from Costa Rica.

The vast majority of visits, 70%, are from the United Kingdom.

At this rate I might even hit my one millionth visitor within twelve months.

Timothy Belmont is hopeful that the swimming-pool at the sports club will be adequately heated tonight. It would be my first swim since the term ended in December. I do miss the old lengths and quite often I have the pool to myself.

At Belmont GHQ, an apple and blackberry crumble has been made, so I keenly anticipate a portion of that this evening, too.

If there are any Old Brackenbrians or Old Campbellians reading this, would you be at all interested in making up a party for the annual dinners?

Founded in 2007 by Timothy William Ferres: writing about a variety of topics including the Monarchy, the Nobility, the Gentry, Heraldry, Pageantry, History of the British Isles, Heritage, Country Houses, the National Trust, Conservation, Brackenber House School, Food, Drink, Sir P G Wodehouse, Travel.